


Heaven & Earth

by MissDrarryDawn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-03 07:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21175586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissDrarryDawn/pseuds/MissDrarryDawn
Summary: Draco is killed by a bitter, grief stricken man, however he can not move on because he still has some unfinished business binding him to Hogwarts.//Completed//Word count: 4.1k





	Heaven & Earth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miniminis_ri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miniminis_ri/gifts).

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!! 
> 
> *please do remember that im your wife and you love me while reading this hehe* *sweats profusely*  
NO JOKE THO I LOVE U HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYY
> 
> *also i dont know timezones so if your bday passed already in your timezone im sowwy that im late but as for mine, its still your bday and im posting noe so*

"Avada Kedavra!" The words echoed from a little alleyway tucked away in the darkness, a green light flashing out of the black. 

Draco whirled around, reaching for his wand immediately, every sense flaring in a moment when those two ugly words reached his ears, but it was all for naught.

The light had already hit him square in the chest.

In a second it was **_over_**.

~

He wasn't allowed past.

Draco floated through a thick haze, mindless, vaguely aware he had died. 

Then he crashed into a wall. He couldn't see it, but he felt it stretch flat past his palms, cold and unyielding. It would not morph away for him to pass. 

Somewhere deep inside him he felt it stir, the knot firmly tugging him away, down, binding him to the land of the living. It held him fast, not releasing his soul. Though split from his body he maintained a form of translucence and shape, plummeting out of the thick haze, farther and farther away from the gateways that were wrought closed before him.

It would appear that he, had unfinished business whilst alive. 

We all must pay our dues, especially in death.

~

Harry couldn't believe it. He couldn't fathom it. Staring down at the small envelope in his palm, he felt as if this was a mistake, that this was meant for some other Harry Potter, dumb as that idea was. He supposed a part of him didn't want to believe it was real.

_Draco Malfoy murdered in a hate crime._

The Daily Prophet had read on August 16th, one day after Malfoy had supposedly been killed by a maddened man who lost his daughter in the war. Harry scoffed at the rumor when it reached him. Malfoy wouldn't die like that, he couldn't. It was much too undignified for the man. He wouldn't be careless enough to drop his guard like that. _No._

And yet, he held the invitation to Malfoy's funeral in the palm of his hand.

The little piece of paper made it all real, _too_ real. Harry's legs would have given out on him had he not sat down when he opened the envelope. He had no clue why the Malfoys invited him to their son's funeral, though that did not matter in this situation really.

Malfoy was dead. Actually fucking dead. _Murdered._

A shiver lolled down his spine, back bowing over his table as the weight of it sunk in.

~

The day of the funeral was a gray one, the sky resembling Malfoy's eyes uncomfortably so, a handful of people gathered at the cemetery. Harry stood in the back, clad in black robes, staring at the casket with a murky gaze. He couldn't believe how hard Malfoy's death had hit him. He supposed it was the prospect of spending years with someone, saving their life and them saving yours, staring at their face for so long you know every curve and then.._dead._ Harry's eyes strayed to Narcissa Malfoy, standing with a straight back, hair combed back elegantly, though her face betrayed her agony. It was pinched and pained, eyes heedless. 

Harry hadn't spoken to her since her trials.

What a terrible occasion to meet again.

He approached her in a few shaky steps.

"Mrs.Malfoy." He spoke, voice subdued. She didn't turn.

"Mr.Potter." Her tone was wheezed out. 

Harry's heart twisted. This poor woman. 

"I'm so sorry, I know me and.._Draco _have never been on good terms, but I would have never wished this upon him." Harry nodded to himself, another clench of ache stabbing at him using Malfoy's first name for the first time like this. Everything just felt wrong now somehow.

"I know. Would you be willing to give a speech in my stead? I'm afraid I can not bear it." She spoke, voice cracking as her eyes glazed over. Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders out of instinct, relieved to find she did not push him away.

"I can do that for you, yes. _Merlin_, I didn't believe it until a few days ago." He admitted, bruising his lip as they lowered Malfoy's casket into the ground.

Narcissa did not reply, eyes glued to her son getting buried. Her only son, her baby.

~

"I..I admit, I did not know Draco well in life, but if there's one thing Iknow _for sure_, is that he was never as bad as most deemed him to be, even myself." Harry spoke, staring at the morose faces of the crowd. Mostly Purebloods, people he did not know, and then Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Lucius had nothing to say to Harry, but Harry expressed his condolences nonetheless. Narcissa was shaking like a leaf in her husband's arms, and Harry couldn't help but feel sick standing here, giving a speech about Draco Malfoy, who he'd hurt and maimed once upon a time, who he knew virtually nothing about. "He was just a child when he had to make terribly difficult choices, we all were, and he did not deserve this fate. In an odd way, even though I've never been on particularly good terms with him, I'll miss him too." A weird, choked hitch in his throat betrayed just how true that was. He'd miss Malfoy. Of course he would. Malfoy had been a big part of his life once, and now he was just _gone. _Harry waited for a second, before stepping down, hurrying to the back, not daring a glance in the direction of Malfoy's parents, head hung low. 

His cheeks were wet.

~

Draco wasn't sure if he could ever pay his dues. He wasn't sure if the gateway would ever open for him.

He supposed he'd have to make peace with being a Hogwarts ghost for the rest of eternity.

After he'd been pulled from the haze, he'd been dragged to his old school, the castle's magic yielding to him, accepting and pulling him in, and he'd realized the reason for that pretty quickly.

Potter's magical signature was still left in traces in the castle.

_Of course_, he thought sullenly, sighing while he floated through the empty corridors, reminiscing on all the times he'd spent here, _alive._

~

Harry had been over the moon when he got the job as the new Hogwarts DADA professor, though now, arriving there again on his first day, his stomach was tied in knots. He felt shivery, though he was sure he needn't worry that much. It felt oddly nostalgic returning, though he was incredibly elated to be back to the one place he'd called _home_ for so many years. 

As he stepped into the Great Hall again, he felt like a child, and couldn't help but smile wide. His smile froze on his face when he came face to face with..._Draco Malfoy_. Rather, the _ghost_ of Draco Malfoy. 

Harry blinked, eyes widening. He dropped his trunk, vision suddenly darkening. A weak splutter clucked out of his closed throat, mind going into a frenzy. How..? What? Thoughts spun when he lost conscience, collapsing like a candle on the front step of Hogwarts.

~

When Harry woke up he found Minerva McGonagall by his bed, tutting at him, Madame Pomfrey right next to her, a frown on her face. He sat up, blinking dumbly for a few seconds.

"What happened?" He asked, looking around. Not even a single day and he's already back at the bloody Hospital Wing. Because of course.

"_I_ happened Potter." A voice drawled behind Harry and he felt himself stiffen. That voice was unmistakable, and Harry shuddered. He was hoping it had all been a very weird fever dream.

"Malfoy." He asserted, tongue heavy in his mouth.

"An astute observation." 

Harry looked up as Malfoy floated around him, coming to face him properly, arms crossed across his chest, disdainful gaze trained down on Harry, who was 97% sure he would pass out again. He looked at McGonagall helplessly and she sighed heavily:

"I do apologize, Harry, for not notifying you earlier. The Hogwarts Ghost Registry has been out of commission for a long time, and I could not update it in time to go over it with you. Draco is the newest Hogwarts ghost, as you can see. I believe there is some unfinished business binding him to the castle." 

Harry took a deep breath, closed his eyes and counted off to ten, before looking back at Malfoy, who was observing him with an odd lilt to his eyes.

"Right. Jesus." The raven man rubbed his eyes and leaned his elbows on his knees. "Malfoy is _here_. A bloody _ghost_." He muttered to himself.

"I can hear you Potter." 

Harry didn't look up, he really needed a moment. He snipped in the blonde's general direction:

"Shut up you're supposed to be _dead._"

A mirthless laugh that Harry remembered all too well:

"I _am_ dead, Potter. You _do_ know what ghosts are right?" 

"Draco don't, please, let him have a moment." Minerva scolded.

Harry knew there was a reason he loved her so much. He could imagine Malfoy rolling his eyes, but acquiesce all the same, because _no one_ defied McGonagall. 

After mulling it all over for a moment, he stood up on shaky legs:

"Alright, fine, Malfoy's a ghost here now, I can live with that...I think..I hope..?" His voice trailed off steadily, growing into a question rapidly. Malfoy scoffed:

"Really, Potter, I'm not _that_ insufferable."

Harry arched an eyebrow at him, still feeling queasy staring at Malfoy's ghost. 

McGonagall sighed heavily, while Pomfrey made the beds. The students would be arriving tomorrow.

~

Draco wasn't ready to see Potter again yet, so when he'd stepped into the Great Hall, tall and broad and _smiling_, Draco was stunned. If he'd at any point of his life forgotten why he'd fallen head over heels in love with Potter all those years ago, the man smiling was more than enough reminder. 

Potter's smile faded, however, when he saw Draco in front of him. He looked every bit as stunned as Draco felt, eyes widening. In the next moment he fainted where he stood, startling Draco quite a bit. He called for Minerva, who'd levitated Potter to the infirmary, muttering under her breath the whole way there. 

"Fought and won a war and yet seeing a ghost makes him faint." Was the only sentence Draco could make out.

They'd let Potter rest and wake up on his own, and Draco took this time to really observe him again, after years. He was just as gorgeous as he always had been, face matured by age now. Hair still a mess, raven locks longer, framing his face. Draco longed to card his fingers through them not for the first time, though he was aware he will _never_ be able to.

Potter groaned, and Draco shook his head, floating away from his bedside.

~

"So you're telling me that Malfoy has some unfinished business to settle in the castle before he can move on to the afterlife?" Harry groans, staring at Minerva, slumping in the chair opposite hers in her office. 

"Yes, Harry. It's all up to him, really." She nods, a worried crease in her brows. "Can you..Will you..." She grimaces, and Harry sighs:

"I'll be fine. I just..I _mourned_ him, and..and held his mom at the funeral, gave a speech and.." Harry trails off, biting into his lip.

"I know Harry. I remember you'd looked like you'd been crying when you came to apply for the position."

Harry nodded and ran his hands through his hair:

"I just..I'll be alright, really. Just need to adjust for a bit." 

When Harry exited her office, he came face to face with Malfoy again, who seemed flustered but cold. Harry suppressed a shiver and strode past, stomach flipping uneasily.

"Potter--" Malfoy's voice stopped him, it sounded strained. Harry swallowed a whinny:

"Yes?"

"My funeral, c-can you tell me--?" He trailed off, sounding terribly small in that moment. Harry considered:

"I can. Come." He gestured for Malfoy to follow him into his new office.

~

"I didn't believe it, that you'd been.._killed._" Potter grimaced when he spoke the words and Draco stood quietly, trying and failing not to stare too intently. "I thought..I _hoped_ it was a stupid rumor. Then..then I got the invitation.." He kept talking, measuring his words carefully, wetting his lip incessantly while he spoke. Draco wished he'd stop doing it. He wished he was the one doing it, but it simply couldn't be anymore. "It was a shit day, all gray and sad." Potter affirmed, recalling everything. 

"The worst part of all was seeing your..your mum." His face softened impossibly upon mentioning Narcissa. Draco's heart clenched. "She was so strong. She asked me to give a speech instead of her, she couldn't do it." He shook his head, shaggy hair flying everywhere. "S-So I did, and..I might've..nevermind, that's all." He coughed to cover up his slip, but Draco wouldn't let it go that easily:

"You _what_?" 

Potter flushed, disheveling his goddamn hair even more:

"Err, might've started crying." He grumbled under his breath, and something pained released in Draco. He didn't say anything. He couldn't even if he'd wanted to. If only he could hold Potter, he'd never let go. His unfinished business. _Tell him. Tell him and you'll be free._ Draco couldn't do it.

"Thanks Potter. For telling me." He finally nodded, and floated out through a wall. Being a ghost wasn't that bad, he lamented, surprising students snogging by floating through a random wall was always fun. 

~

It's been a month since Harry had started working at Hogwarts, a month since he'd reunited with Malfoy, who he's now taken to calling Draco, a month since they'd left their past behind and moved on. Harry was happy, that he could have this, because he'd always wondered what it would have been like had they become friends all those years ago. He was relieved too, to have a familiar face always around, since he'd been incredibly jittery about his new job. He loved it, being a teacher, but Merlin knew he was a bit slow sometimes, and he'd feared it would make his job difficult. It didn't, thankfully, but having Draco around made Harry feel better about it. He didn't feel as alone. He'd come to consider Draco a friend, at first feeling weird about it, if for no other reason than just for the fact Draco was dead and a ghost. People don't usually grow so attached to ghosts, though Harry supposed he wasn't like most other people. His scar made sure of that. No matter, Harry stubbornly held fast to his views. They were friends now.

~

Becoming friends with Potter was more than Draco could have ever hoped for, and he was incredibly grateful, but it was so fucking bittersweet at the same time. Spending every day with him only made the empty ache in him grow stronger, the want he's always felt for the man yappering away annoyingly. And he loathed it, all of it. He wished it were different, so badly. Potter had stopped using Draco's last name when talking about him, which just made him hurt more each time. He wished to do that too, but couldn't. It would be too much. 

He wanted to move on. Being bound to Hogwarts was slowly ruining him. 

~

The months dwindled away rapidly, and Harry found himself more and more attached to Draco, found it growing deeper much quicker than he'd expected it would. He'd catch himself thinking about the blonde between his classes, seeing red when some kids who didn't know better mocked him and prodded around very painful memories, snapping at the teenagers despite his better judgement. His eyes strayed to Draco whenever they were in the same room together, and he'd rediscovered all of the copious details he'd known by heart back in Hogwarts but had forgotten over the years. It was exhilarating, really, the same rush he felt when he was a teenager coming to him now. He reveled in the little bursts of pleased pride he'd feel whenever he'd surprise Draco with something new he knew/noticed that Draco didn't think he did. His own stomach would flip when Draco would smile at him, because it was a rare open grin on him and it looked...well, the only word that came to Harry's mind was _beautiful_, though he felt a bit amiss in thinking like that, yet despite that, that's exactly what he ended up thinking more and more often when they spent time together. Harry didn't like thinking about it, because the conclusions they led him to frankly scared him, though not as much as they should. At first it was easy enough to abandon these cerebrations when they'd come, but when months passed by, his mind had layered thickly with them, these sickly sweet endearments and fleeting wanton flickers it became much more difficult to ignore. It became harder to bear. Draco's presence could make his stomach clench and heart palpitate, and Harry swallowed heavily when he lay in bed one cold night and reflected on the past months. How much things have changed, his own ideas and assumptions torn down and all the new, wonderful things he'd discovered and had come to associate with Draco. He'd forgotten he had once been Malfoy, a rude arsehole who was prejudiced and deigned to harm him any way he could. It had been so easy to forget it all, not blink once at it. Harry felt lightheaded when he was with Draco though, so it could be attributed to that too. 

Well.

~

Draco couldn't take it anymore, he truly couldn't. He'd stayed as long as he was able to bare it, because he wanted the time with Potter, but this had grown into masochism. He couldn't smile and laugh with Potter, and pretend the fond looks Potter gave him didn't make his day, and just exist alongside him and want him to the point of pain. Even if Potter felt the same, they couldn't have each other anyways. Might as well move on. There was nothing for him here anymore. So he'd decided that he would settle his debts here, and step past the gates.

We all must pay our dues, even in death.

~

"Today, Potter." 

When Draco had told him that, Harry felt as if he'd been punched in the gut rather forcefully. His lungs constricted, forcing a whoosh of air out of him, body depleting. _Today._ He'd settle his debt and...move on. He'd be gone, for good, forever, and that thought alone sliced through Harry. He'd stayed awake all night that fateful night even more months ago now, surprised to find the world hadn't ended after he muddled through the very convoluted mess that was his mind. Things with Draco felt different now too, more meaningful in a way, though now Harry just felt like crying. He braced himself and nodded sagely however:

"Will you tell me what it is?"

Draco smarted, straightening up, his face pinched with an odd mix of apprehension and relief. He took a few deep breaths, and Harry waited patiently.

"It's you. You're my unfinished business." Draco spoke slowly, voice quiet. 

Harry's eyebrow twitched, and he sucked in a quick breath through his teeth. He was..? What? His shoulders sagged further:

"What can I do?" He asked, though the question burned on his tongue. He had grown cold.

"Listen to me now, because you'll only hear it once." Draco replied, floating a step closer, though he seemed hesitant.

Something hot and sharp clawed through Harry's chest. He nodded, biting his lip and blinking slowly. 

Draco studied Harry's face for a moment longer, eyes filled to the brim with something soft and gentle. Harry stared right back, keeping his face carefully blank.

"Years ago, while we were teenagers, I.." Draco trailed off, words hitching. "I fell in love with you." He determinedly spoke, voice steady despite the gentle tremor in it.

Harry stopped breathing. His heart had stammered to a complete fucking halt.

"I was so mad about you, until the day I died." Draco continued, eyes falling downwards, away from Harry. "And..I still am now. But I _need_ to move on. Spending days with you, it feels like dying all over again."

Harry's bottom lip was trembling, a sheen of tears glazing his eyes, entire being fluttering as Draco's words sank into his skin. His chest felt tight, too tight for the bitter joy that wrought through him with dizzying speeds. He laughed, though it was mirthless, pained. A tear slipped from his eyes. Draco tentatively flicked his eyes upwards, though dropped them again.

"Oh Draco..I know. I know it all." Another dry sob of laughter. "You have no idea how badly I wish I could have you, even for a second. But I can't. I never will be. Go. Go now Draco, for both of us." He replied, admitting out loud all the words and thoughts he couldn't give voice to for so long, for weeks, months, all the things he grimaced at saying before, but that felt perfect on his tongue now. So fitting.

Draco was staring at him wide eyed, shoulders shaking silently. He didn't say anything, and Harry waited, waited for him to disappear, once and for all. Waited to lose him. Then Draco burst into tears too, helpless, silent quaking gasps escaping his lips while tears dripped down his cheeks. Harry reached out for him, hand freezing halfway when he realized he couldn't touch him, dropping back to his side with a wince on both their ends.

"Don't cry after me. I'm sure I'll see you again when I die. You can't get rid of me that easily." Harry smiled softly, tilting his head fondly, wiping his eyes and cheeks, trying to be strong through the haze. 

"I'll be waiting then." Draco replied shakily, swallowing a lump. 

"I'll come to you, I promise." Harry nodded, meaning every syllable. After so long he'd found love, and he'd move heaven and earth to keep it. Keep him.

Draco gave him one last, shy smile, before he closed his eyes, a dim, muted glow shimmering around him before he started to fade away. Harry watched, heart heavy as lead as Draco disappeared, eyes locked onto Harry, gray as he'd ever seen them be. 

He was gone.

~

Harry must have stood in that little secluded alcove of the castle for Merlin knows how long, staring at the spot where Draco had once floated. He'd started feeling unsteady on his feet, something clawing up his throat, before Harry clamped his lips shut, preventing the scream from tumbling out. Instead, he sank down shakily onto the floor, lost to the world. Soft footsteps thrumming closer had barely registered in his ears when he felt someone settle next to him, a warm palm perching on his shoulder.

"Has he finally spoken his peace?" Minerva asked, voice mellow in the throbbing silence.

"Yes." Harry nodded meekly, tone barely above a whisper.

"His peace seems to be your war Harry." She pointed out, noting how much he was trembling. He smiled emptily and shook his head:

"No, that's not right. His war had been my peace for so long, but now I know. Now I've seen." 

The old woman breathed for a moment:

"It doesn't have to be that way Harry." 

"What do you mean?" He asked, incredulous, only half listening. Everything hurt.

"You know, Harry, love is the most powerful magic there is, don't you?" She replied, almost as enigmatic as Dumbledore had been in his time.

"What of it? It won't bring him back." Harry scoffed, voice almost giving out on him. He wanted to sleep, to sleep this all off.

"No, it won't." She agreed, waiting for another beat. "But it can save him, just like it's saved you many times." 

Minerva placed something in Harry's splayed open palm on the floor, something cold and round, closing his fingers around it before he could see what it was, keeping her own hand cradling his.

"Tell me Harry, what is the date of Draco's death?" She asked, a small, soft smile curling her lips.

Harry bristled. August 15th, he remembered. The Daily Prophet had come out on August 16th with their article, the words in the paper that looked like such obvious lies then, yet..

"It's August 15th?" He spoke, his tone more so a question than a statement. 

Minerva just nodded however:

"Good." She affirmed, and then stood, breezing away from Harry. He sat for a second longer, before he lifted his palm to see what it is that McGonagall had given him.

It was a time-turner.

~

_Fin._

**Author's Note:**

> p.s i didnt have time to edit this cuz i was in a hurry to post it before midnight so please forgive any mistakes and such
> 
> thank chu :3
> 
> YO MY DEAR FRIEND CECI WROTE A SEQUEL FOR THIS FIC AND YOU HAVE TO GO CHECK IT OUT CUZ ITS SO GOOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH!
> 
> [part 2 here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21176987%E2%80%9D)  
Find more on my [Tumblr](https://missdrarrydawn.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Changing History: A prequel/sequel to Heaven & Earth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21176987) by [TheReadingWriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheReadingWriter/pseuds/TheReadingWriter)


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